Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 Aachen–1969 Chicago); obtained his training in the trade in the stonemasonry of his father; 1905–07 draughtsman in the studio of Bruno Paul in Berlin; 1908–11 employed as an architect under Peter Behrens in Berlin (after the World War I, he added the maiden name of his Dutch mother, van der Rohe, to his name Mies) 1913 opened his own architectural studio which functioned up until his departure for the USA; 1930–33 director of Bauhaus; 1937 emigrated to the USA where he opened his own architectural office in the year 1939.

European architectural works

Mies' working and life partnership with Lilly Reich became an important turning point in his life, working together on the exhibition of the German Werkbund ’The Dwelling’ carried out in the form of the housing estate Weissenhof in Stuttgart (1927). Here and once again at the Berlin fashion exhibition (1927), the central theme of which was silk, Mies and Reich presented their concept of ‘flowing’ or ‘unrestricted’ space which was further developed in the Barcelona pavilion (1928-29) and in the Brno Villa (1928-30). They also both cooperated on the projects for the ‘brick’ houses for Erich Wolf in Guben (1925-27) and Hermann Lange and Josef Esters in Krefeld (1927-30).

Mies inspiring and educating

The Tugendhats were impressed and strongly influenced by Mies' personality.’He had a calm, self-confident certainty which immediately served to convince you. From the manner in which he spoke about his projects, we realised that we were dealing with a genuine artist. He said, for example, that the ideal dimensions of space cannot be calculated, space must be felt.’Trained two generations of architects through his work and influence indelibly impacting the development of world architecture of the 20th century.